1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an optical waveguide fiber designed to compensate total dispersion, and particularly to an optical waveguide fiber designed to compensate total dispersion while exhibiting substantially low bend loss at 1550 nm.
2. Technical Background
Dispersion compensation techniques are often desired in telecommunications systems that provide high power transmissions for long distances. Such techniques include the creation of dispersion managed spans, wherein the spans include a transmission fiber having positive dispersion and positive dispersion slope, and a dispersion compensating fiber having negative dispersion and negative dispersion slope at the same wavelength (typically 1550 nm).
In order to reduce non-linear optical effects, such as self-phase modulation, four-wave-mixing, cross-phase modulation, and non-linear scattering processes (all of which can cause degradation of signals in high powered systems) transmission fibers having a large effective area (Aeff) are typically employed in high power transmissions for long distances. While dispersion compensating fibers used in such systems typically have much smaller effective areas than transmission fibers, reduction of non-linear optical effects can be achieved by increasing the effective area of these fibers as well.
However, an increase in effective area of an optical waveguide fiber typically results in an increase in macrobending induced losses which attenuate signal transmission through a fiber. Such losses become increasingly significant over long (e.g., 100 km, or more) distances (or spacing between regenerators, amplifiers, transmitters and/or receivers). Unfortunately, the larger the effective area of a conventional optical fiber, the higher the macrobend induced losses tend to be.